EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
TENSAS RIVER BASIN - A LANDSCAPE APPROACH TO COMMUNITY- 
BASED ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 
These images illustrate the 12% decrease in total forested landcover between the early 1970s and the 
early 1990s. 
Tensas River Basin 
The purpose of this document is to give the results 
of an ecological assessment using landscape ecology and 
water quality methods in the Tensas River Basin, Louisiana. 
This assessment can be used as a tool to estimate the 
impact of human land use practices that are being currently 
implemented to improve environmental quality. It can be 
also used forecosystem targeting and help people make 
good decisions on the best location for restoration sites. 
The U.S. EPA’s Office of Research and Development, 
Landscape Ecology Branch did this work under the 
guidance of U.S. EPARegion 6, the Louisiana Department 
of Environmental Quality and the U.S. EPA Gulf of Mexico 
Program by way of the Regional Applied Research Program 
(RARE). 
The Tensas River Basin encompasses approxi¬ 
mately 930,000 acres of Mississippi River alluvial flood plain 
in Northeast Louisiana. Historically, most of the Basin was 
covered with bottomland hardwood forested wetlands. The 
bottomland hardwood wetlands of the Tensas River Basin 
have been described as some of the richest ecosystems in 
the country in terms of diversity and productivity of plant and 
animal species. At the same time, these cleared lands are 
recognized as some of the Nation’s most productive 
farmland for grain and fiber. The result is a conflict of land 
use between traditional row crop agricultural interests and a 
concern for a healthy, diverse, and stable ecosystem. 
The Tensas River Basin is a target watershed of 
several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency environmen¬ 
tal studies including the Nonpoint Source Management 
Program, U.S. EPA Region 6, and the Gulf of Mexico 
Program. The Nonpoint Source Management Program has 
identified watersheds in Louisiana which have been 
impaired by nonpoint pollution and where land use prac¬ 
tices contribute to these pollutant problems. This program 
identified specifically what types of best management 
practices need to be implemented to improve environmen¬ 
tal conditions. Using the existing data and with the 
cooperation of landowners, the Tensas River Basin offered 
a unique opportunity to implement best management 
practices that could help reduce the concentration of 
sediment, excess nutrients, or pesticides leaving the 
Basin. The nutrients leaving the Tensas River Basin, 
combined with other Mississippi Valley watersheds, are of 
concern to the Gulf of Mexico Program because research 
has shown that excess nutrients cause hypoxia (<2 mg/I 
oxygen) in the bottom waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This 
